Barcelona City Guide: International Airport
Barcelona International Airport (IATA: BCN, ICAO: LEBL), also known as El Prat, is the main airport serving Barcelona, Catalonia. It is located 10 km away from the centre of Barcelona, in El Prat de Llobregat.
The airport is the largest in Catalonia and Spain's second largest behind Madrid Barajas International Airport. It is a main hub for Vueling Airlines and Clickair, and a focus city for Spanair, Air Europa and Iberia Airlines (until spring 2008). The airport mainly serves domestic and European destinations, but Singapore Airlines offers destinations in Asia and US Airways, American Airlines (beginning May 1, 2008), Continental Airlines and Delta Air Lines in the United States. The airport is undergoing expansion with the construction of a new south terminal, expected to be finished in 2009.
In 2006, 30,008,152 passengers used "Barcelona El Prat" airport.
The Barcelona-Madrid air shuttle service, known as the "Puente Aereo", is the busiest in the world.
History
Barcelona's first airfield, located at el Remolar, began operations in 1916. However, it did not have good expansion prospects and so a new airport at El Prat opened in 1918. The first plane was a Latecoere Salmson 300 which arrived from Toulouse. The airport was used as a base by the Spanish Navy's Zeppelin fleet. Scheduled commercial service began in 1927 with an Iberia service to Madrid.
In 1948, the first overseas service was operated by Pan American World Airways to New York, using a Lockheed Constellation. A new control tower was built in 1965 and the terminal was rebuilt in 1968.
The airport underwent a major development in preparation for the 1992 Summer Olympics with the construction of a second terminal (designed by Ricardo Bofill).
A plan for expansion (Plan Barcelona) includes a third terminal building (also designed by Ricardo Bofill) and control tower. An additional runway (07R/25L) has been built. Once these developments are complete, the airport will be capable of handling 55 million passengers annually (compared to 30 million passengers in 2006). The airport is slated to expand in area from 8.45 to 15.33 km² by 2009.
After maintaining a presence in the airport for over eighty years, in spring 2008 Iberia will withdraw all of its services to Barcelona and replace them with Clickair services.
Transport
The airport is accessible by Renfe commuter train on the R10 line, which runs from Estació de França, with a major stop at Sants train station providing transfer to the Barcelona Metro system. The TMB public bus on line 46 runs every 25 minutes from Plaça Espanya. A scheduled private bus line (Aerobús) from The area around the Plaça Catalunya, stops at Sants and Plaça d'Espanya. Taxi stops are available at each terminal. The C-32B highway connects the airport to a main traffic interchange between Barcelona's Ronda de Dalt beltway and major highways.
As part of the major expansion above, a new train station will be built nearby, connecting the airport to the Spanish AVE network, and to both Line 2 and Line 9 of the Barcelona Metro.
Airlines and destinations
Terminal A
Terminal B
Terminal C